Hawaii-born Barack Obama returned to Oahu last night for the second time in two months.

    Obama Arrives to Visit Ailing Grandmother  

 

 

The presidential nominee touched down earlier Thursday evening to visit his ailing grandmother.

 

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    Unlike his family vacation in late August, however, this is a quicker, more somber trip as the Democratic presidential candidate visits his gravely ill 85-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham.

Obama's campaign jet touched down at Honolulu Airport at about 7:15 p.m., and his motorcade immediately took him to Dunham's Punahou-area apartment, where she raised Obama for much of his youth.

Obama entered the building from an underground parking garage at about 7:50 p.m., bypassing about 20 journalists and about 50 onlookers and supporters who assembled outside hoping for a glimpse of the candidate. He spent about an hour there before heading to the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, where he was to spend the night.

He is to spend most of today with his grandmother, who turns 86 Sunday, before leaving this evening to resume his campaign tomorrow in Nevada. He has no public appearances planned while in Honolulu.

Many of the people outside the South Beretania Street building expressed support and sympathy for Obama and Dunham, who reportedly broke her hip recently and is suffering from cancer.

“;It says a lot for him to come back to see his grandma,”; said Chaminade University student John Walje IV, who stopped outside the building after class hoping to get a glimpse of Obama.

“;Family is the most important thing,”; said Walje, 24, who added that he missed the chance to say goodbye to his father before he died.

Obama said the decision to go to Hawaii was easy to make, telling CBS in an interview broadcast yesterday that he “;got there too late”; when his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, died of ovarian cancer in 1995 at age 53, and wants now to make sure “;that I don't make the same mistake twice.”;

“;My grandmother's the last one left,”; he said, referring to the people who raised him.

Of his mother's death, he said, “;It was sort of like this, in the sense that she had a terminal illness. We knew she wasn't doing well, but, you know, the diagnosis was such that we thought we had a little more time, and we didn't.”;

Madelyn Dunham, along with her husband, raised Obama for much of his youth, as he attended Punahou School, where he graduated in 1979.

She was released from a hospital last week and is now being cared for in her Honolulu apartment by Obama's half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.

Dunham's brother, Charles Payne, said this week that his sister is “;gravely ill.”;

In Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden called Obama's trip to Hawaii “;an emotional journey.”; Biden said Dunham is not expected to live.

Outside Dunham's apartment building last night, several people said they wanted to show him their support and hoped he was not bothered by their presence.

Rae Diane Sims, 53, who lives in the building, said she does not know Dunham, but sent her a get-well card.

“;I just wanted to let him and his family know that we're thinking of them at this time,”; she said, adding that she spent three hours praying today, hoping that Dunham “;will live to see the inauguration”; of her grandson.

One of the younger Obama supporters hoping to catch a glimpse of the candidate was Washington Middle School sixth-grader Tevito Lino, 11, who hoped to shake Obama's hand.

He said he likes Obama because “;he comes and visits Hawaii and his grandmother.”;

Obama, wife Michelle and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, spent a week in late August on Oahu, just before the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The August trip was filled with golf and beach visits but also included daily trips by Obama to see his grandmother. For this trip, Obama's family did not accompany him.